Watching These Toys Rhythmically Expand and Collapse Is the Most Relaxing Thing

You’ve probably played with one in passing while wandering through a toy shop, but did you know these expanding plastic spheres have an actual name? They’re called Hoberman Spheres, named after engineer Chuck Hoberman, and they’re now somehow even more relaxing.

For an installation called Bits and Pieces, artist Nils Völker hung countless Hoberman Spheres from a ceiling, and using electric motors, levers, and invisible string, he choreographed and controlled them all to rhythmically expand and collapse like beating hearts. It could be the ultimate desk toy, except you would never get any work done were this hanging in your office. [Vimeo via Laughing Squid]